Netflix’s ‘Napoleon Dynamite’ Problem: Worth Solving!
The Napoleon Dynamite problem is driving Len Bertoni crazy.
Bertoni is a 51-year-old “semiretired” computer scientist who lives an hour outside Pittsburgh. In the spring of 2007, his sister-in-law e-mailed him an intriguing bit of news: Netflix, the Web-based DVD-rental company, was holding a contest to try to improve Cinematch, its “recommendation engine.” The prize: $1 million.
Cinematch is the bit of software embedded in the Netflix Web site that analyzes each customer’s movie-viewing habits and recommends other movies that the customer might enjoy.
Did you like the legal thriller The Firm? Well, maybe you’d like Michael Clayton. Or perhaps A Few Good Men.
The Netflix Prize goes to anyone who can make Cinematch’s predictions 10% more accurate. That sounds like an awfully big prize for such a small improvement. But, in fact, Netflix’s founders have tried for years to improve Cinematch, with only incremental results, and they knew that a 10% bump would be a challenge for even the most deft programmer.
They also knew that getting to 10% would certainly be worth well in excess of $1 million to the company.
The competition was announced in October 2006, and no one has won yet, although 30,000 hackers worldwide are hard at work on the problem. Each day, teams submit their updated solutions to the Netflix Prize Web page, and Netflix instantly calculates how much better than Cinematch they are. (There’s even a live “leader board” ranking the top contestants.)
More at the New York TImes.
Tags: cinematch, netflix, netflix prize
- Related Entries
- Broadband-enabled Game Consoles: Bye-Bye Pay TV? -
Nov 21, 2008 - Xbox Live Getting a Makeover -
Nov 17, 2008 - Roku Streaming HD from Roku — Before Year End -
Nov 04, 2008 - Movie Rentals? Try a DVD Kiosk Near You -
Sep 11, 2008 - Teaching an Old Blockbuster a New Trick -
Aug 05, 2008 - In Today’s News - the XBox 360 pwns the Sony PS3 -
Jul 14, 2008 - Is There More to Netflix/Roku Than Meets the Eye? -
Jul 02, 2008 - When One Less Gadget Is Better — Set-Top Boxes Going Bye-Bye? -
May 27, 2008 - CinemaNow Brings Movie Downloads to Windows Media Center -
May 23, 2008 - Downloaded Movies Were Meant To Be Free -
May 20, 2008
TrackBacks
| Comments | Tag with del.icio.us | VoIP & Gadgets Blog Home | Permalink: Netflix’s ‘Napoleon Dynamite’ Problem: Worth Solving!
Copyright VoIP & Gadgets Blog
Original post by VoIP & Gadgets Blog
